Twitch.tv is a streaming video service built for video gamers. If you have a gamer in your life, chances are good that they've seen at least one stream of their favorite video game. You may have heard about Google's plans to acquire the company, but it looks like Amazon's $970 billion offer was better.

What makes a service that lets you watch people playing video games worth $970 billion? Marketing, mostly. Unlike any other form of entertainment, watching someone play a video game actually makes you want to play it. Unlike having someone spoil your favorite TV show, you can't really spoil Mario for yourself by watching someone else play the game.

This means that Amazon will now have massive access to all of the video gamers watching streams online, and all of the tracking that I'm sure the site is doing in the background. All of this comes in the wake of a disappointing launch for Amazon's Fire Phone.

I think this purchase is a smart move. The main issue I took with the Fire Phone was that it felt like you were buying a product that wanted you to use it to buy more products. Twitch is a marketing tool that gamers love, and that's exactly what Amazon needs right now.